CLUELESS

How the cult chick-flick sensation of 1995 managed to slip by me unnoticed is a mystery. But then I can hardly remember 30 years on what I was actually watching, maybe going through one of my “sensible” phases. I joke of course, I have never actually had a sensible phase. So all this said I was ambiguous about whether a musical version of the film would appeal to me.

I was to be pleasantly surprised, the opening moments, well let me say that I was still filled with a kind of dread, but they were moments. I was very soon roaring with laughter and dazzled by the talent spread before me. This was a cast of A grade triple threats.

The plot is a simple adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Emma. For Emma read Cher, a popular and wealthy high-school fashion obsessed girl hell bent on doing good. She matchmakes her teachers, mentors her best friend Dionne and together they alight on new girl Tai, hot from the Bronx and no fashion plate but rather more hippy chick before they get their hands on her. And once done with her she is transformed visually but… well not wholly.

Emma Flynn is perfect in the role of Cher, hyper active, hyper rich and hyper blonde. She can dance, act and she can nail the word heavy songs with such clarity that not one clever, plot driven lyric is missed.

And the songs, penned by KT Tunstall and lyricist Glenn Slater are amazing, each one so well crafted and so relevant. How I admire a musical where the songs earn their place on the stage, and every single one deserves to be here. Many of them made me laugh out loud, some are gentle and moving, but they all work, so much so that I came away humming the tunes – perfect!

Chyna-Rose Frederick is equally good as Dionne, clearly in the thrall of Cher for sure but delivering her part with assurance and wit too. This is very much a comedy and she has funny bones as they say.

Romona Lewis Malley is Tai, the girl from the Bronx who is swept up by the girls as a “project”, stripped of her New York heritage and thrown at Elton, supposedly the hottest guy in school. But no amount of fashion labelling can really change her and she gives the role everything needed to anchor her character with real skill.

The show is very much about the girls but there are some very good performances from the boys too, Keelan McAuley is excellent as Josh and Isaac J Lewis scarily real as heartthrob Elton with rather strikingly mobile eyebrows!

And the ensemble dance and sing their hearts out in a nonstop display of talent, choreography and gymnastics combined in an explosion of limbs and colour.

Paloma Youngs costumes are crazy exaggerations of iconic fashion looks, vibrant and witty. Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams’ set cleverly transforms from location to location with ease and changing furniture into cars whilst simplistic is very effective.

By the end I was totally swept along by the fun, the exuberance and joyous silliness of the whole confection. This is first class stuff, the message there but not over-laboured and the whole delivered by a stunningly talented team both on and off stage.

Andrew Kay

Trafalgar Theatre, London

24 April

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